Ralph stared after the long, shadowy figure crossing the cobbled street. There was a pale glow of lamplight just where the stranger stepped upon the curb. For an instant his flaxen hair and red neck were visible.
“By gracious! I believe that is the fellow I told you about,” Ralph exclaimed.
“Not Mac——?”
“No! Malone! And I believe he’s drunk. He had been drinking this afternoon.”
“Where could he get liquor around here?”
“I’m sure I don’t know. But I’d say he got it, law or no law.”
“So that fellow is a friend of the Big Noise?”
“A tool, anyway, of McCarrey’s.”
“Wonder where he’s going?” ruminated Zeph. “Drunk or sober, he acts as though he had something on his mind.”
“There is another gate in the yard fence in that direction,” whispered Ralph.